ALDinHE Annual Awards 2020

This page celebrates and publicises exceptional work taking place within the learning development community, highlighted through the ALDinHE Annual Awards nominations. Here you can read about the nominees’ work from the 2020 awards.

I am
nominating Dr Sonia Hood for the ALDinHE Award. Sonia embodies Learning
Development through her generous leadership which raises the confidence and
capacity of students and colleagues.

Sonia has
recently been made team leader of Study Advice at the University of Reading
during a time when the Library is undergoing a lot of change. Sonia is a
supportive leader who people turn to, and who helps people manage the emotional
and identity issues surrounding change in HE. Liaison Librarians at Reading
have been asked to take on more LD work. Many staff lacked confidence, but
Sonia reassured them and took a lead role in training colleagues in LD values
and best-practice, as well as finding creative ways to work together.

Sonia is
defined by her optimistic and positive attitude which was a steadying influence
during the creation of the award-winning Study Smart pre-entry course. Study
Smart is in its third year and has reached close to 8000 undergraduates. An
indicative survey showed 94% of students who completed the course felt that
their confidence had increased (Shahabudin, Hood and Reid, 2018).

Sonia’s EdD
work on self-efficacy in academic writing builds the confidence of
non-traditional students at Reading’s partner colleges. She has made a
difference to many widening participation students, helping them to get the
most out of HE learning. Sonia was awarded her EdD last year, further
demonstrating her strong commitment to a scholarly approach and to professional
development.

Sonia
advocates inclusivity in HE through creating positive partnerships with
students and staff. Many international students in Henley Business School felt
excluded and disadvantaged by group assignments. Sonia worked closely with
students to better understand their diverse experiences of group work. She is
using her findings to help staff develop cultural awareness in all students
embarking on group projects. Sonia also invited new Study Advice colleagues to
collaborate on this research and mentored them in their first conference
presentations.

Sonia also
contributes to the LD community through her work on the ALDinHE Communications
Coordination Group, and through co-organising events like the Regional
Symposium on essay mills.

Sonia deserves
the ALDinHE Award precisely because she would never think that what she does is
‘award-worthy’. She is exceptional because she raises people’s belief in
themselves and their own abilities so that they can achieve in HE.

References:

Shahabudin,
K., Hood, S., and Reid, M. (2018). ‘Right time, right space? Developing an
online transition course for new undergraduates’. Journal of Learning Development
in Higher Education Special Edition: 2018 ALDinHE Conference. Available online:
http://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/469

2020 Nominations

‘Working alongside students’ really encapsulates
Caroline’s practice – she’s one of the most professional and committed LDers
I’ve worked with, and she constantly challenges her own practice through
reflection and scholarship. Two aspects particularly stand out: Her one to one
practice epitomises a student-centred, emancipatory approach. What is
particularly striking is that student feedback so clearly reflects her values,
not just ‘she was helpful and nice’ but noting how her non-judgemental and
person-centred practice makes each student feel they can be heard as
individuals: “there was no judgement. I was able to be completely honest and it
was incredibly helpful to just discuss my worries […] I was worried that the
advice would be quite abstract but it was very tailored for me.” Even more
striking is students’ appreciation for her empowering approach, not giving them
simple tips but coaching them to come to their own answers: “‘all she did was
ask great questions to prompt me to think more for myself, which was very
empowering”. She also develops innovative practice in group teaching, having
reformed our central programme from traditional lecture/workshop pedagogy which
was generic, prescriptive and unengaging, to something genuinely
student-centred and effective – in her ‘With the WDC’ workshops, students of
all subjects and levels bring along what they’re currently working on and are
scaffolded through progressing an aspect of it, with peer discussion. Instead
of ‘take-home tips’ to apply later, students are able to experiment and apply
them to their own current work, getting instant feedback and making progress as
they go. It is a very situated approach, managing the difficult trick of
tailoring a workshop for different levels and subjects.

She’s a very valued member of my team, and has
been hugely supportive in mentoring new colleagues. I’m very privileged to work
with her and have learned much from her myself.

Emma Tudhope, University of Sheffield nominated by
Victoria Mann, University of Sheffield:

Emma has created a series of workshops to facilitate the
development of academic skills including a brand new workshop on critical
thinking that is delivered throughout the University of Sheffield and beyond.
She created an engaging presentation and lesson plan together with an extensive
set of bespoke resources, all supported by clear notes to allow the session to
be effectively taught. The workshop provides a clear and accessible
introduction to one of the most challenging aspects of student learning and
offers opportunities for students to work in small groups to develop their
higher-level analysis skills through in-session activities. One of the students
who attended the session stated that, ‘from attending the Critical Thinking
workshop I believe my understanding of the course content has increased
dramatically. I find it much easier to critically analyse scientific literature
after discussing what constitutes critical thinking during the workshop. This
has been hugely beneficial to my studies, especially my coursework.’

Emma has also created an innovative procrastination
programme; according to a recent survey, 85-95% of students have problems
relating to procrastination. Despite this, here are very few procrastination
resources available and it is an under researched topic. Emma’s work adds
significantly to this field, combining psychological theory with practical
measures to overcome this problem. Emma has created a procrastination workbook,
in collaboration with an undergraduate student, and has created a
procrastination workshop. In addition, she has developed a training programme
and a webinar for staff to disseminate the resources further. The
resources created are being used to support students with SpLDs (specific
learning difficulties) and as part of the staff training offered by the
Specialist SpLD Tutorial Service here at the University.

Finally, Emma, in collaboration with Dr Sheena Bell, from
the University of Nottingham, has written a chapter of a book to promote
understanding of SpLDs and English for academic purposes courses. This
provides a vital resource to enable lecturers and teachers to have an insight
into how to support international students with SpLDs, and provides teaching
strategies and resources to underpin learning.

Rachel Stead, University of Surrey: Learning
Development Teaching Fellow, Senior Fellow of HEA. Certified practitioner of
LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) nominated by Julie Lowe and Julia Anthoney,
University of Surrey:

Working
across all faculties, to introduce and explore concepts & practise of
learning through play.

Incorporating
LSP into:

‘Open
To All’ workshops including Literature Searching, Dissertations, Focus on
Research for PGRs

Workshops
for specific student cohorts, for example: students on the autistic
spectrum to explore their academic related concerns

further
developing the reach into faculties, working with academics

Working
across the Health Sciences faculty with academics from Vet medicine,
Paramedic Practise, Midwifery, and Nursing. Initiatives include workshops
to enhance knowledge in areas such as resilience, independent learning,
critical thinking, and reflective practise.

Carrying
out collaborative research with colleagues and students. Specific example
includes a student-staff partnership in Health Sciences, using LSP,
resulting in the publication of book chapter Building Knowledge and
Learning Communities Using LEGO® in Nursing (Stead et al, 2020.

Mentoring
her co-workers in the development of workshops (for all UG, PGT and PGRs)
which include LSP.

Rachel:

actively
participates in a range of conferences, external and internal, to share
her experiences of her learning development initiatives and students’
experiences of using LSP – including ALDinHE at Edinburgh, Leicester, and
Exeter (where she co-presented with staff and students involved in a
collaborative research project).

is
one of the first foundation year, Learning Development teaching fellows at
the University of Surrey, where she is implementing her knowledge and
experiences of pedagogy within the curriculum and working collaboratively
with other new foundation year LDers to develop innovative learning and
teaching practises specifically aimed at foundation year students to aid
their transition to UG study. Such is the success of her appointment in
the role, she has been inducted to contributing to major curriculum
redesign of the UG programmes into which the Nursing Foundation Year
feeds.

actively
participates in staff educational development programmes to engage staff
with LSP.

Rachel works with all members of
the team and here are just a few testimonials:

“As someone new to the world of learning
development, Rachel has offered me inspiration and support to try new things
and explore different approaches when working with student nurses and
paramedics. I feel her fantastic work with Lego Serious Play has encouraged the
team to be more innovative in our approaches to learning development, and has
given me particularly the confidence to use this approach to engage students”

“Rachel has inspired my practice and
increased my confidence as a learning developer through her unfailing support
and encouragement when creating actively engaging sessions particularly through
the use of Lego Serious Play. Rachel’s valuable insights and extensive
experience in both developing learners and encouraging active participation in
sessions has resulted in a range of opportunities which critically engage staff
and students with literature across a range of disciplines, all of which have
received very positive feedback”

“Rachel is a fearless Learning
Developer; tackling the topic of “reflection” with ‘hard’ scientists is
potentially tough, but she has embraced the challenge by propagating her Lego
Serious Play throughout the University of Surrey and striving forward with a
fabulous research project that I am excited to be involved with. Her
dedication to enhancing the academic world of our students and staff members
deserves huge recognition, and I continue to value her guidance as I navigate
the world of learning development from the perspective of a ‘hard’ scientist!”

Endorsement from our Head of
Learning Development:

“Rachel is a fabulous Learning
Developer who ceaselessly embodies a ‘developing the developers’ ethic in ways
that really inspire and engage others. She always puts careful thought into
ensuring that her approach is appropriate for the given context: co-design and
co-delivery of LSP sessions are variously mixed with other forms of engagement
when working with staff across the institution: advocacy and consultancy,
mentoring and coaching, peer observation. She has been an institutional
trailblazer for LSP and I’m proud to have her as a member of our team.”